Axiom142
Gold Meritorious Patron
How many times have we heard that?
It’s as though Scientologists believe that if this mantra is repeated over and over, it will become true.
“I don’t care what the media says – I know Scientology works!”
“OK, so I haven’t got the results I was expecting – I just need to try harder. After all, Scientology works!”
“Well if you lost your job because you were taking time off to go on course and your family have shunned you because you were always getting into ethics trouble and you are penniless – well that’s your fault for not applying the Tech properly. If you had, you would have got results, because Scientology works!”
Personally, I get rather fed up when I hear this drivel. To me, this is one of the clearest examples of the brainwashing that Scientologists have been subjected to. They ‘know’ Scientology works, but can any of them back this up with anything meaningful?
In Scientology parlance, the statement “Scientology works!” is a ‘sweeping generality’, which are usually frowned upon – except in this case obviously. But what does it actually mean?
Does it mean that Scientology always gets the results that are claimed? I think not – or the CoS wouldn’t be in such a mess.
Does Scientology create super-beings? Well where are they then?
Does Scientology enable people to flourish and prosper? If so, why are so many Scientologists so hugely in debt?
The CoS claim that Scientology was created using the scientific method, but I don’t see much evidence for that. But there is ample evidence that a colossal con has been perpetrated. I’ll use a well-known example to illustrate my point:
Last year, there was a saw a programme on TV featuring Derren Brown ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_brown ), which perfectly illustrated the fallacy of believing that something is true “Because it works.”
Derren Brown has been mentioned several times before on ESMB, but it is worth mentioning him again for those who are not familiar with him. He describes himself as a “psychological illusionist”. He uses various techniques such as "magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship", in order to trick people into doing things that they normally wouldn’t or to perform tricks such as (apparently reading people’s minds or getting other people to read minds). He makes no claims about being a super-being or having paranormal powers. He creates illusions and manipulates people, but he is so good at it, that many who have experienced his showmanship firsthand, are utterly amazed and are almost prepared to believe that he is using witchcraft.
He has been shown going up to people in the street, confusing them with a few well-chosen phrases and then getting them to hand over their wallets, car keys etc. One chap was even shown realizing what he had done, walking back to Brown demanding his stuff back, before promptly handing them over again!
This is going to sound really dumb, but I used to think that Derren Brown had genuine OT powers and could manipulate time and space and read people’s minds or make them do things that he wanted them to do. Well, he probably can do the last 2 things to a certain degree, but not by having OT powers. He has simply learnt how to read people’s reactions and use suggestions, misdirection, confusion etc to get people to do what he wants.
Actually that reminds me of an amusing incident. A few years ago, I was sitting in the Great Hall at St Hill, watching one of the Freewinds anniversary events. It was the ‘Mission into Time’ one, where DM gave a presentation on how LRH went on a jaunt around the Mediterranean looking for buried treasure or as he put it - “to find and examine relics and artefacts and so possibly amplify man’s knowledge of history.” (A big thank you to DartSmohen for filling us in on what really took place during that time). Anyway, DM was giving it the Big Intro, banging on about how LRH had discovered a long-lost ‘mythical’ civilisation when, a lad in his late teens / early twenties immediately in front of me, had a cognition and exclaimed in suitably awe-filled tones “Atlantis!”
I just shook my head in disbelief and thought: “Does this kid really believe that LRH actually discovered Atlantis?!” Presumably he buried it over again and didn’t tell anyone about it because he didn’t want the Wog world to know how OT he really was! This kid is from a Scn family so has presumably been raised in the subject, which obviously doesn’t include being taught to think critically or how to evaluate facts and come to logical conclusions. But then, why would you? LRH has already done the hard part for us. All we have to do is read what he said and do what he tells us to do.
But I digress, back to the subject in hand. In Feb 2008, Derren Brown revealed a sure-fire system for winning on horse races. The programme followed a woman who had been directed to place bets on specific horses in 4 previous races. Brown had told her that he had a system that guaranteed that she would win every time. The predicted horse had won each time, and she had won a small amount of money.
So, Brown gives her a horse and she dully places a bet. The cameras are on her as the race is being run. In the final stages of the race her horse is third, I think, and not looking as though it is going to win. She is looking a little concerned, but not unduly worried. Then, the lead horse stumbles at a fence and brings down the 2nd placed one as well, and thus her horse is left to romp home! She is ecstatic at having won again.
So now, of course, she totally believes in Brown’s ‘system’ . After all, he said it would always work and it has. What more proof could she need? So, Brown then tells her that she will be given one more tip for another race in about a week’s time. He instructs her to raise as much money as she possibly can as this is her chance to really make a lot of money.
Then, we see her again on the day of the race. She is clearly not well off, but she has taken out all her savings, and then gone to various family members and borrowed money from them as well. In total, she raised £4,000. This is obviously a large sum to her, and she cannot afford to lose. But, she is willing to place it all on a notoriously fickle enterprise, because she knows that ‘the system works’.
So, Brown tells her which horse has been selected and takes the money and places it on the horse and gives her the betting slip. He tells her to put it in her pocket and not to look at it. Then, he drops the bombshell. There is no system! He has tricked her. She is understandably very upset at this news. She has risked hers and her relative’s savings on a complete gamble. (Imagine that – gambling everything on a system that didn’t exist. Wouldn’t catch me doing that - D’Oh! )
Predictably, the chosen horse doesn’t win and she is devastated. But, equally predictably, she puts her hand into her pocket and pulls out a slip with the winning horse on, and walks away with £13,000.
Then, Brown explains how the trick worked, which was pretty obvious anyway. He had contacted over 7,600 people and split then into 6 groups. Each group was given a particular horse in a specific race (only races with 6 runners were chosen throughout). Then, the ones who had won were split into 6 smaller groups and so on, till we arrived at 6 people for the 5th race. Each was given a separate horse and each had their own camera crew.
So, there ws just one person for whom this system had totally worked, and over 7,600 for whom it didn’t work at all, or just partially (1/6 won on the first race, then 1/6 of that next group won and so on).
I know this is all a bit convoluted, but the point I am trying to make here is that it is all too easy to assume that just because a particular system, method or whatever has appeared to work in a limited number of cases, it doesn’t mean that it will always work or even that it is a valid system or method.
This is the trap that most Scientologists fall into. They simply look at what their experiences have been or the ‘successes’ that they have been told about. What they should be doing is saying “Well, that’s great, but how many instances are there when this didn’t work.” Obviously they won’t hear it from the others in the group as the only ones left are the ones who still believe. The others have all GTFOed. Of course, the staff could probably see how many don’t get the results and don’t carry on. But, they are given ‘reasons’ why this or that person didn’t make it (out ethics, PTS, an SP, couldn’t confront the bank, Man United supporter etc etc).
Personally, I have no doubt that parts of the Scientology ‘Tech’ can get very good results in the hands of a caring and skilled practitioner. But these results are not uniform and there are too many exceptions where results are not as claimed. And, more importantly, Scientology does not set beings free.
Of course, this is all too easy to see from this side of the fence, but how to make it clear to those still inside?
Perhaps many of those still ‘in’, will never be able to admit the truth. Even to themselves. I find this one of the saddest things. If you can’t be honest with yourself – what hope is there?
Axiom142
It’s as though Scientologists believe that if this mantra is repeated over and over, it will become true.
“I don’t care what the media says – I know Scientology works!”
“OK, so I haven’t got the results I was expecting – I just need to try harder. After all, Scientology works!”
“Well if you lost your job because you were taking time off to go on course and your family have shunned you because you were always getting into ethics trouble and you are penniless – well that’s your fault for not applying the Tech properly. If you had, you would have got results, because Scientology works!”
Personally, I get rather fed up when I hear this drivel. To me, this is one of the clearest examples of the brainwashing that Scientologists have been subjected to. They ‘know’ Scientology works, but can any of them back this up with anything meaningful?
In Scientology parlance, the statement “Scientology works!” is a ‘sweeping generality’, which are usually frowned upon – except in this case obviously. But what does it actually mean?
Does it mean that Scientology always gets the results that are claimed? I think not – or the CoS wouldn’t be in such a mess.
Does Scientology create super-beings? Well where are they then?
Does Scientology enable people to flourish and prosper? If so, why are so many Scientologists so hugely in debt?
The CoS claim that Scientology was created using the scientific method, but I don’t see much evidence for that. But there is ample evidence that a colossal con has been perpetrated. I’ll use a well-known example to illustrate my point:
Last year, there was a saw a programme on TV featuring Derren Brown ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derren_brown ), which perfectly illustrated the fallacy of believing that something is true “Because it works.”
Derren Brown has been mentioned several times before on ESMB, but it is worth mentioning him again for those who are not familiar with him. He describes himself as a “psychological illusionist”. He uses various techniques such as "magic, suggestion, psychology, misdirection and showmanship", in order to trick people into doing things that they normally wouldn’t or to perform tricks such as (apparently reading people’s minds or getting other people to read minds). He makes no claims about being a super-being or having paranormal powers. He creates illusions and manipulates people, but he is so good at it, that many who have experienced his showmanship firsthand, are utterly amazed and are almost prepared to believe that he is using witchcraft.
He has been shown going up to people in the street, confusing them with a few well-chosen phrases and then getting them to hand over their wallets, car keys etc. One chap was even shown realizing what he had done, walking back to Brown demanding his stuff back, before promptly handing them over again!
This is going to sound really dumb, but I used to think that Derren Brown had genuine OT powers and could manipulate time and space and read people’s minds or make them do things that he wanted them to do. Well, he probably can do the last 2 things to a certain degree, but not by having OT powers. He has simply learnt how to read people’s reactions and use suggestions, misdirection, confusion etc to get people to do what he wants.
Actually that reminds me of an amusing incident. A few years ago, I was sitting in the Great Hall at St Hill, watching one of the Freewinds anniversary events. It was the ‘Mission into Time’ one, where DM gave a presentation on how LRH went on a jaunt around the Mediterranean looking for buried treasure or as he put it - “to find and examine relics and artefacts and so possibly amplify man’s knowledge of history.” (A big thank you to DartSmohen for filling us in on what really took place during that time). Anyway, DM was giving it the Big Intro, banging on about how LRH had discovered a long-lost ‘mythical’ civilisation when, a lad in his late teens / early twenties immediately in front of me, had a cognition and exclaimed in suitably awe-filled tones “Atlantis!”
I just shook my head in disbelief and thought: “Does this kid really believe that LRH actually discovered Atlantis?!” Presumably he buried it over again and didn’t tell anyone about it because he didn’t want the Wog world to know how OT he really was! This kid is from a Scn family so has presumably been raised in the subject, which obviously doesn’t include being taught to think critically or how to evaluate facts and come to logical conclusions. But then, why would you? LRH has already done the hard part for us. All we have to do is read what he said and do what he tells us to do.
But I digress, back to the subject in hand. In Feb 2008, Derren Brown revealed a sure-fire system for winning on horse races. The programme followed a woman who had been directed to place bets on specific horses in 4 previous races. Brown had told her that he had a system that guaranteed that she would win every time. The predicted horse had won each time, and she had won a small amount of money.
So, Brown gives her a horse and she dully places a bet. The cameras are on her as the race is being run. In the final stages of the race her horse is third, I think, and not looking as though it is going to win. She is looking a little concerned, but not unduly worried. Then, the lead horse stumbles at a fence and brings down the 2nd placed one as well, and thus her horse is left to romp home! She is ecstatic at having won again.
So now, of course, she totally believes in Brown’s ‘system’ . After all, he said it would always work and it has. What more proof could she need? So, Brown then tells her that she will be given one more tip for another race in about a week’s time. He instructs her to raise as much money as she possibly can as this is her chance to really make a lot of money.
Then, we see her again on the day of the race. She is clearly not well off, but she has taken out all her savings, and then gone to various family members and borrowed money from them as well. In total, she raised £4,000. This is obviously a large sum to her, and she cannot afford to lose. But, she is willing to place it all on a notoriously fickle enterprise, because she knows that ‘the system works’.
So, Brown tells her which horse has been selected and takes the money and places it on the horse and gives her the betting slip. He tells her to put it in her pocket and not to look at it. Then, he drops the bombshell. There is no system! He has tricked her. She is understandably very upset at this news. She has risked hers and her relative’s savings on a complete gamble. (Imagine that – gambling everything on a system that didn’t exist. Wouldn’t catch me doing that - D’Oh! )
Predictably, the chosen horse doesn’t win and she is devastated. But, equally predictably, she puts her hand into her pocket and pulls out a slip with the winning horse on, and walks away with £13,000.
Then, Brown explains how the trick worked, which was pretty obvious anyway. He had contacted over 7,600 people and split then into 6 groups. Each group was given a particular horse in a specific race (only races with 6 runners were chosen throughout). Then, the ones who had won were split into 6 smaller groups and so on, till we arrived at 6 people for the 5th race. Each was given a separate horse and each had their own camera crew.
So, there ws just one person for whom this system had totally worked, and over 7,600 for whom it didn’t work at all, or just partially (1/6 won on the first race, then 1/6 of that next group won and so on).
I know this is all a bit convoluted, but the point I am trying to make here is that it is all too easy to assume that just because a particular system, method or whatever has appeared to work in a limited number of cases, it doesn’t mean that it will always work or even that it is a valid system or method.
This is the trap that most Scientologists fall into. They simply look at what their experiences have been or the ‘successes’ that they have been told about. What they should be doing is saying “Well, that’s great, but how many instances are there when this didn’t work.” Obviously they won’t hear it from the others in the group as the only ones left are the ones who still believe. The others have all GTFOed. Of course, the staff could probably see how many don’t get the results and don’t carry on. But, they are given ‘reasons’ why this or that person didn’t make it (out ethics, PTS, an SP, couldn’t confront the bank, Man United supporter etc etc).
Personally, I have no doubt that parts of the Scientology ‘Tech’ can get very good results in the hands of a caring and skilled practitioner. But these results are not uniform and there are too many exceptions where results are not as claimed. And, more importantly, Scientology does not set beings free.
Of course, this is all too easy to see from this side of the fence, but how to make it clear to those still inside?
Perhaps many of those still ‘in’, will never be able to admit the truth. Even to themselves. I find this one of the saddest things. If you can’t be honest with yourself – what hope is there?
Axiom142
